The present invention relates to a foot switch apparatus for a tape recorder, such as a transcriber, which includes an automatic back spacing circuit. An automatic back spacing circuit is assembled in a tape recorder such as a transcriber for dictation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,567, 229 (issued Mar. 2, 1971) proposes such a tape recorder. When documents are typed while dictated sound is reproduced, the typist often misses the dictated contents. In this case, a cycle of operations of playback, stop, rewind and playback must be repeated in order to listen again to the missing part of the dictation, resulting in cumbersome operation. An automatic back spacing circuit is utilized for eliminating this inconvenience. A tape length corresponding to a few words is automatically rewound by the automatic back spacing circuit every time the playback mode is interrupted. The operation of a transcriber with an automatic back spacing function becomes easy when a foot switch is utilized. When a dictation playback operation is performed with a foot switch, the typist need not remove his/her fingers from the keys.
In a transcriber, an automatic back spacing circuit is often included for the reasons described above. Further, a foot switch is also used jointly with the transcriber. However, the automatic back spacing circuit requires a considerable space, preventing the transcriber from achieving a compact structure.